"With All of My Mind"
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Mark 12:28-30; Philippians 4:8

Introduction: Illustration: "Different Mentalities," Illus. Unlimited, p. 413, #18- The Stanford Research institute a number of years ago was making a study of how different people think; how they perceive things differently. They devised a short test to use in their interviews and called in people from different walks of life. The first to come in was an engineer. The researchers asked him: “Tell us, what does two plus two make?” The engineer didn’t even hesitate to give his answer; he simply said: “Well, if you mean in absolute terms—two plus two make four.” They wrote a couple of notes and then thanked him. Next they called in an architect, and asked him the same question. He said: “Well, there are several possibilities: two and two make four, but so do three and one—or two and one-half and one and one-half—they also make four. So, it is all a matter of choosing the right option.” The researchers made their notes and thanked him. The last of the 3 to come in was an attorney. The researchers asked him: “Tell us, what does two plus two make?” The attorney looked around, asked if he could close the door for privacy, and them came over close, leaning toward them he said: “Well, tell me, what would you like it to be?”
How we think is important, and shapes our lives. God wants us to know that what goes into our minds is of utmost importance. As we continue our series on loving God with all of our heart, and soul, and mind and strength, this morning we try to get an understanding of the importance of loving God with all of our mind. And like before, we will start by looking at 3 biblical truths about the mind.

I. 3 Truths About Our Minds- (Psalm 139:2; Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 10:5)

1. God knows our thoughts-
First, we need to understand that God knows our thoughts. As we are told in Psalm 139:2- "...You, O God, discern my thoughts from far away."
Let us not deceive ourselves, God knows what we are thinking; the good and the bad. We cannot hide our thoughts from God! For some this is a scary thought, but it actually is a good thing, because we don't have to try and fool God. We can be real and honest with God; especially on Sundays when we come to church. It actually frees us up to be ourselves with God. We don’t have to pretend and put forth the image that everything is okay, or that we are somebody that we are not!
It is true that not every thought we have is pure, or right. Our circumstances around us can lead us to think some pretty mean or angry thoughts. The issue isn’t whether we have bad thoughts or not, the issue is do we think we can hide these thoughts from God? We get ourselves into trouble bottling up our thoughts. The best thing to do is acknowledge to God the thoughts we have; the thoughts that God already knows is there! Only then can we even think about trying to move to the place where our mind can be on God and the things of God.

2. God can change our way of thinking-
A second truth is found in Rom. 12:2, where the apostle Paul says: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..."
It is important for us to understand that when we accept Jesus as our savior and Lord, God comes in to change our mind; to change the way we think. We are no longer to follow the thinking of this world, but to be transformed into thinking the thoughts of God!
Understand that the thinking of the world is different than the thinking of God. The world is about being independent; the world is about looking out for yourself; the world is about climbing the corporate ladder; the world is about working to get a better car, a higher paying job, achieving a higher standard of living.
God is about loving your neighbor as yourself, being a giving and selfless person, putting others before yourself, serving instead of being served. This indeed takes a great transformation of the mind!

3. We are responsible for our thoughts-
Third, we find in 2 Corinthians 10:5- "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
We live in a world where there are many philosophies that can lead us astray and lead us away from God. This verse reminds us of the importance of being responsible for our every thought, and that the only way we can overcome these thoughts, that are not of God, is to take them captive and then filter them through the word of God. As we do this, we can begin to be obedient to Christ even in our mind! We become responsible for our thoughts!

II. Eight Ways to Love the Lord With All of Your Mind- (Philippians 3:8, 4:8; Joshua 1:8; Psalm 33:11, 51:2, 145:2-3; 1 Timothy 6:17; Malachi 1:5)
In thinking about loving God with all of our minds, I want to briefly look at 8 ways that we can do this by breaking down this wonderful verse from Philippians…
Hear Philippians 4:8 again: "Finally, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable---if anything is excellent or praiseworthy---think about such things." Paul gives us a great list that will help our minds be more in line with what God desires.

1. Meditate on God's truth- ("whatever is true")
First, Scripture is clear that what we dwell on will determine what we believe, and ultimately how we choose to live our lives. In Joshua 1:8, as Joshua is poised to take over for Moses in leading the Israelites to the promised land, he is given this advice:
"This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success."
Now meditating is focusing your mind on the things of God's truth. You can do this through your daily or regular Bible readings, but an even better way to do this is to memorize scripture. There is nothing more powerful to help us keep the truth of God's word close to our minds than to memorize scripture.
This verse then goes on to say that if you meditate on God's word, "you may be" careful to do what is written, and then "you will" make your way prosperous. Now the phrase "you may be" is telling us that just because we meditate on God's word, doesn't mean that we will live it out. But the "you will" is telling us that if we meditate on God's word, and apply it to our lives, then our way will be prosperous, because we will be following the path God has for us. This is what God was wanting Joshua to know, that if he knows God's word, and follows God's word, he and the Israelites will be prosperous. Our prosperity comes from thinking about and following what is “true.”

2. Appreciate God's worth- ("whatever is noble")
Second, if you were to look at the word "appreciate" in the financial sense, it would mean that our financial worth is continually growing. This is to be true of how we should approach God with our mind; the more we think about God, the greater His worth becomes to us…As Paul says in Philippians 3:8- "Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord..."
Paul reminds us that the most important thing we can have is knowledge of Jesus Christ. It is a noble, honorable thing to have a deep understanding of who Christ is and what Christ has done, because our lives only have honor in Christ. To appreciate God's worth is to appreciate who He is; His holiness, His unconditional love, His faithfulness, His willingness to forgive, His power, His presence, the fact that He created us to be in relationship with Him. The way we show that God has value, worth to us, is to give Him everything of who we are, even our mind! In this way we dwell on what is “noble.”

3. Cooperate in God's Plan- ("whatever is right")
Third, there are things that are right in this world, and there are things that are wrong. God created this earth, and all that is in it. God has established a plan for creation. But all too often we don’t follow this plan. It is the right thing to do to seek to know in our minds what God's plan is, and then to try and cooperate with it.
As the psalmist reminds us in Psalm 33:11- "But the plans of the Lord stand
firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations."
God's plan has not changed. He has made His plan clear. Do you know what God's plan is? In short, the summary of God's plan is found in the 2 great commandments: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. But this can be complicated to live out. How we make decisions shows whether or not we are cooperating with God's plan.
A good book that might help you in this area is the book Experiencing God, by Henry Blackaby. In this book we are challenged as Christians to experience the fullness of life by letting God reveal Himself to us. On page 49 of his book, Blackaby says this: “When God gets ready to do something, He reveals to a person or His people what He is going to do. God accomplishes His work through His people…” By knowing the mind of God, we can discover what God is revealing to us, and we can know our special place in God's kingdom; we can know the “right” things to do.

4. Appropriate God's Cleansing- ("whatever is pure")
Illus., 1001 Humorous Illustrations, "Old Sins," p. 328, #868- There is a story of a middle-aged woman who was concerned about her mother, so she phoned her daughter to see if she knew anything: “Dear,” she said, “have you spoken to your grandmother recently? I’ve tried to call her every evening this week, and there’s been no answer. She really should be at home. I’m beginning to worry!” The daughter thought for a second and said: “Oh, they’re having a revival at the retirement village this week. I’ll bet that’s where she has been when you’ve called.” “Revival?” the mother responded. “What on earth do they need with a revival? What kind of sins could they possibly have at a retirement village?” The daughter wisely responded: “Old ones, mother. Old ones!”
Most of us don't think of ourselves as "pure" because we don't let ourselves receive the cleansing of God; we hold onto our old sins. God wants to forgive us; we just have to ask. After David was convicted of his sins of adultery with Bathsheba, and then killing her husband by having him put on the front lines of the battle, King David said this in Psalm 51:2-"Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin."
We need to keep a short list of our sins. We keep a short list by regularly going to God with our confessions, and once we have done this, our list is wiped clean! But we also should ask God to erase our evil thoughts as well, because thoughts can turn into sin. Our sin can affect our thinking, and keep our minds from God. We must move away from sin and sinful thoughts and focus on those things that are good and “pure!”

5. Anticipate God's Abundance- ("whatever is lovely")
Next, we move our minds closer to God by anticipating God’s abundance. God has an abundance of love, and power, and blessings. All which are available to us. A good way to anticipate God's abundance is by focusing on the blessings of the past. You can do this in a number of ways; maybe when you go to bed each night think about how God blessed you that day, or maybe you can ask a friend or family member how they think you have been blessed (other people tend to be more objective when it comes to this), or maybe you can take some time each week to write down or journal the many ways God has blessed you. It will surprise you to see that God has blessed you abundantly.
One of the things I love about our Contemporary Service on the fourth Sunday of each month is the testimony time. The testimony time is a time for us to hear from others how God is blessing them. By hearing their testimony, not only can we rejoice with them in their blessings, but hopefully it will spur our thinking about how God is blessing each of us. As the body of Christ, we are blessed when we know that others are blessed. We need to be thinking in these terms, and make ourselves more aware of God's blessings in our lives….In this way we can focus on those things that are lovely. As Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:17- "...God richly gives us everything to enjoy."

6. Communicate What You See of God in Others-
Paul then tells us to dwell on whatever is admirable. Unfortunately, we live in a world where we judge others instead of encourage them. We tend to focus on the faults of others, and the imperfections of others instead of their good things. Scripture tells us we were made in the image of God, and that we were wonderfully made.
The same is true of ourselves. We have trouble seeing the good, but instead focus on our faults, weaknesses, sins. Often times I will ask a person to give themselves a self-esteem score. More often than not the score is low. Someone once said: "The closest a person comes to perfection is when he fills out a job application." (1001 Humorous Illus., p.320, #845) There is probably a lot of truth to this. We like to put our best foot forward when we apply for our job. How come we can't be like this in our self-image and in the way we look at others?
They say that it takes about 30 compliments to overcome one criticism. How sad this is! One thing I have done now for a number of years is to save all of the encouragement notes I get from people. Every once in a while I pull out this folder and read the encouraging things people have said to me.
Let us be people who are seeking to communicate the love of God to others with words of praise and encouragement. You will find that it will change how your mind thinks of others!

7. Motivate Your Days By God's Greatness-
Next, Paul tells us to dwell on that which is praiseworthy. How can we do this? Maybe each morning when we wake up, the first thing we can try and do is to dwell on God’s greatness. As Psalm 145:2-3 says: “Every day I will praise you and extol Your name for ever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom.” Now this isn’t normal for us to do, so we have to write ourselves a note to do this, and then practice this kind of thinking each day. In time it will become habit to start out the day with our mind thinking about God’s greatness.
What makes God great? He is the creator; He is ever-present; He will never abandon us; He has given His Son so that we might live; He has given us this world to enjoy; He has gifted us to be the body of Christ; and on and on the list could go. Thinking like this will help us to put the day in perspective, and help us to understand that God gave us this day to live for Him and glorify Him with our lives.
Even more, we begin the day by asking ourselves questions like this:
What can I do that will make the day a blessing? How can I dedicate this day to God? This kind of thinking will help us change the way we perceive the day, and the way we live out our day. As we focus on God’s greatness, we remember that living our lives in the right way is not about will power, but about God power!

8. Celebrate What God is Doing-
Lastly, Paul tells us to think about whatever is praiseworthy. There is a story of a farmer who was sitting on the porch with his wife. As he looked over at her he realized how much she meant to him. They had been married for 42 years, but at this moment it really impacted him. So he said to her: “Wife, you’ve been such a wonderful woman that there are times I can hardly keep from telling you!” Not exactly the warm fuzzy that most women want to hear, but it was an attempt. J
This is all too true of us, and God; of us, and the church. We often realize that God is wonderful. We see how the church can be a great blessing in our lives. But we fail to talk about it. The prophet Malachi tells us in Malachi 1:5- “…lift up your eyes to see what God is doing all around the world; then you will say, ‘Truly, the Lord’s great power goes far beyond our borders!’” God is at work in our lives, in the work of this church, and in the world. We need to look around and focus on what God is doing, and give praise to God for all that God is doing. We need to celebrate with each other and with other Christians what God is doing! It is time to celebrate who God is and join with Him in accomplishing His will. We need to get this into our minds.

Conclusion: If we focus our minds on these eight things, I believe the result will be peace in our lives, and power and purpose in our actions. Too many people do not have peace of mind because they are focused on everything but the things of God. The prophet Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 26:3- “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in God, whose thoughts are fixed on Him!” We were created to dwell on god, to focus on the things of God. We can love the Lord with all of our minds when our minds are fixed on God. Then we will experience perfect peace. Come, let us love the Lord with all of our minds. Amen.